Send help, or money! Just kidding, sort of.

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Our first ultrasound of the pregnancy. We had made the big decision to find out the gender of the baby, everyone was excited. As we started the ultrasound tech asked if it was our first ultrasound and I said, "Yes. We have a running joke that it is twins so it would be great if you could confirm there is only one in there."

She did not respond.

Then there were two pictures on the screen.

She wrote baby A. I thought why on earth does it have an A after it.

Then she wrote baby B. Twins!!!

I said are you serious? She said, yes. I started sobbing. JT stared on in a mixture of disbelief and vindication that he had been correct the whole time. He was convinced it was twins from the beginning. I was so sick, I was so big already, he was right. I chose to chalk the signs up to each pregnancy is different. I was wrong.

Twin boys, by the way.

The rest of our appointment went by in a haze of shock and disbelief. When I started crying again while waiting to see our doctor the nurse told me she found out she was having twins in the very same way with a child under two at the appointment. She said she cried for 3 days and then everything was fine. It was very nice to hear, because I felt like a total jerk for crying. Here we are blessed with two healthy babies - everything looked great on the ultrasound. But twins, three kids under 3!! That is a lot to take in. Two babies. Three car seats. We need a van, shit.

We were excited to have this pregnancy and birth thing down pretty well. To not be going in blind like the first time. Well, everything is different with a twin pregnancy, and I know nothing. So, alas blind we are.

We have begun to move on from shock to planning. I have ordered books and begun to reach out to other twin mothers. We will be fine. It will be fun. In fact my biggest concern right now is for Audrey. Will she feel like an outsider all the time with twin brothers, how will we make time for just her, what did we do to my poor sweet baby girl?

But again it will be fine, it will be fun. I am sure we will not want to change a thing once everyone is here. 

Seriously though, if you want to send some help our way we won't say no ;-)

Cider donuts and bike rides.

I took a month off. Mostly because I am lazy, but also because life was real busy. And, most importantly because I FINALLY finished our 2013 photo book!! There were so many more pictures than any previous year. It was hard, but it is done and on the way to our home. A will be so excited to see a whole book of her!

Lots of things happened last month, doots and JT hung out while I was out of town working for a few days, doots and I hung out while JT was out of town with friends, all of the grandparents came to visit. Lots of fun stuff, so much that I never got around to writing about any of it. Perhaps one day.

For now present day will have to do.

We did all of the fun things this weekend.

We went to the cider mill where Audrey enjoyed her first cider donut.

She also tried out the bouncing pillow, she is too little. It didn't work out so well, but thankfully we were there early and no other kids were bouncing yet. No serious toddlers were injured.

We went on a train ride and a wagon ride.

And we played on the wooden train and truck for a long time. Of course we also got some yummy apples.

Then Saturday night we went watch the Vixens play roller derby! Very busy, very fun Saturday. Audrey is already a seasoned roller derby spectator, but I would say she paid a lot more attention at this game than she ever has in the past. For the first half hour or so she sat between JT and I with her hands clasped just watching the game. It was pretty awesome! Then she got bored and played with an iPod.

Sunday, we went on our first family bike ride. I am pretty embarassed to admit this is the first time we have used the trailer. We have had it for about a year, but we just hadn't gotten to hooking it up yet. Today we did! We went to a couple parks and got ice cream on the way home. Riding in the trailer was a success. Audrey thought it was super fun.

Trying to share ice cream with her was a major fail. In fact she got so angry by the end of the ice cream cup JT and I could not help but burst out laughing at her outburst of rage, which I know is terrible and mean and I truly feel bad for laughing at her honest emotion, I swear I did my absolute best to control myself. I failed. It was the most intense tantrum we have ever seen and it caught us off guard, sorry for laughing doots I know you didn't think it was funny at all. We calmed her down with her own cup of water and went about our day. Lesson learned, Audrey gets her own ice cream from now on. Fair enough.

We have an annoucement!

This was not the post I had planned to write today, but here we go.

We are expecting a baby!

I am due in early February, February 6th for those who are into due dates.

The reason I am annoucing this is perhaps the most selfish ever. And also why it is not some super cute photo with Audrey in a big sister shirt.

I am so sick. So sick. And I just need to complain to someone other than JT and my mom. Told you super selfish.

Though, I do think this new child of ours will appreciate knowing how wonderful the beginning of this pregnancy was. Also, let me caveat I am over the moon excited that I am pregnant. We are so excited to have another baby. I will take being sick over not being pregnant every time. Copious amounts of joy up in here.

But can I be real for just a minute or two.

I am really sick of feeling awful ALL the time. It is not morning sickness, that is a lie. It is all damn day. I also am really just over food aversions, they make no sense and make life miserable. I want nothing more than to eat dinner with my family. Not just what they are eating, but in the same room. Yeah, really. I have food aversions so strong I cannot even be in a room where I can see or smell the food without running to the bathroom. And I want to eat some of the delicious, in season, glorious Michigan vegetables we get from our CSA every week. But that has not been working out so well either. I know it seems like I am being dramatic, but really I am not. I tried to eat a grilled cheese with kale on it today and I could not even take ONE bite without gagging. I do not kid.

I know there are many women who do not get sick at all when they are pregnant. I am so happy for you! And so jealous. Please, if you are one of these women don't mention this to me at present. I am a weak, petty person and inside I will want to punch you. This is 100% my issue not yours, but commiseration is where I am at right now. Again, so happy for you!

I am done complaining now. Thank you for listening. Thank you for indulging my self centered pregnancy announcement. No need to send pity my way, this release is all I needed.

I hope the pictures of Audrey mixed in made it more tolerable. The blog will return to rainbows and unicorns for the foreseeable future!

P.S. to answer your first question, we have not decided if we will find out the gender yet.

Audrey: 20 months.

I have been promising a development update for a long time. Here it is. I do apologize for the lack of current pictures. It is really hard to take pictures of A right now. Every time she sees a camera or phone she stops whatever she is doing and runs over to try to grab the device. Which makes taking pictures hard. Also, we are just kind of lazy, so there is that.

This is what happens when she sees the camera.

Audrey is a toddler through and through. She has very strong opinions these days and lets us know when we have wronged her in the normal toddler ways. She is obsessed with the "pad pad" (iPad) and phones. So much so that we don't ever take them out when she is around unless she is going to get to use them because it is just not worth the dramatics. She doesn't get to use them much, so it has effectively cut down on our screen time as well, probably a good thing.

She is also obsessed with Elmo. I think the only thing she loves more than Elmo is daddy. She is obsessed with him too. Every time she sees the TV remote she picks it up and says "Elmo?" When Sesame Street is on she only sits down to watch when Elmo is on. She also has Elmo-dar. The other day at the grocery store she kept saying "Elmo!" and I was like what are you talking about? But then I saw a sandwich container with Elmo on it, and then it was pajamas with Elmo on them, etc. I think she found every Elmo in Meijer. Told you Elmo-dar.

As I alluded to, she is also in a major daddy phase. If JT is home she wants absolutely nothing to do with me. When he is gone she likes me fine, but given the choice it is daddy every single time. This both warms and breaks my heart. I love that she loves her dad, I wish she would ask for me once in a while though. But, for the first 18 months of her life she almost always chose me, so I can't complain too much. It is very sweet to see how much she loves that daddy.

Other big things in the life of a little girl: she is saying a lot of words. Everywhere we go is a running commentary of all the things we see, rock, car, doggy, kitty, truck, etc. etc. Today she brought the top of her marker over to me and said "black." And I said "Yes!" that is black. She amazes me frequently.

She still loves to play pretend and her favorite is still playing night night. It has taken a new twist though. Lately when we go to get her from her crib in the morning or after nap she says "no, stay." She wants to stay in her crib and play. She sometimes asks for a book. Then she takes her pillow and blanket, lays down, rolls over, and says night night. She sometimes will play in her crib for 15 or 20 minutes just jumping around and playing night night. Such an interesting little lady.

Audrey still will eat most food we give her, she loves all things fruit. It seems if she is hungry she will eat what is offered if not, she makes up for it the next meal. I am really hoping this characteristic sticks over time, but I am not holding my breath either.

All in all miss Audrey is a wonderful, happy, energetic, 20 month old. She always goes down the biggest slide she can get to at the park and loves to climb and jump off of anything she can find. Given her parents' personalities this does not surprise me, though we may up the amount of money we put in the flexible spending account next year in anticipation of urgent care visits :) So far, so good on that front.

We could not ask for a better little lady. Love you to the moon and back doots!

Summer vacation is the best.

We were on vacation in Minnesota last week. It was glorious.

This post is long. Sorry, I am too lazy to write more than one. 

We flew in on the 4th and spent the day at Cookie's on the lake with my whole family. Everyone. Just like our childhood. It was absolutely the best. Everyone had a blast.

Audrey loved the water. More specifically she loved the water slide. Love, love, loved it! Every time she got to the bottom she yelled "AGAIN" "AGAIN!" It was sweet and awesome.

She also enjoyed jumping in off the dock, sitting on the peddle boat, riding in the kayak, riding on the jet ski, and playing in the shallow water.

She had so much fun we went back again later in the week.

Baby girl crashed and burned before the fireworks this year. They were amazing, just like they always are at the lake. She will get to see them soon.

We all enjoyed spending time with my family especially getting a chance to see all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is so fun to see all those little ones together.

It is even more fun to dress the littlest two up in lederhosen. They were maybe not super thrilled, but very cute.

Other fun in Minnesota included an anniversary getaway for JT and me to Duluth. It was wonderful to get away for the night and enjoy just being together. We enjoyed walking by the lake, eating good food, and staying at a nice little bed and breakfast.

Other fun events included taking Audrey to the MN Zoo. She got to ride a camel and pet goats. She really loved the tide pool, the monkeys, and the cows. When we left the cow barn she said nooo, cows mooo. It was sweet.

And of course, we caught up with lots of friends in the area. Which was wonderful, but we didn't get to spend enough time with any of them!

It was a very successful vacation. We were extra glad we decided fly home on Friday instead of Sunday when our flight was delayed 4 hours. Getting home at midnight on Friday is a lot easier than midnight on Sunday.

An update about Audrey's development soon, I promise. She has so many words and so much attitude these days!

I still have a blog!

I'm going to go ahead and post as though it has not been forever since I have written. It is summer. I am stupid busy at work in the summer. Also, it is summer. I am outside doing fun things when I am not working. Those are my excuses. I do plan to do an 18 month update soon. However, I am late on that as well as Audrey passed the 19 month mark this weekend.

Audrey loves to play pretend these days. She likes to feed her baby and Elmo, and give them water, and have us kiss them goodnight. She also insists on sleeping with mony monster, bunny, kitty, and Elmo. Her crib is a bit crowded these days.

Her favorite pretend game though, is playing nigh night. She loves to take a book into our bedroom. She climbs up onto the bed, pulls the covers up, opens her book, and say nigh night. Then she gets down and repeats the whole process. It is pretty cute and often actually coincides with naptime or bedtime. Baby girl loves her sleep.

She also loves outside. And ever since we put some water on the deck for her to play in that is all she wants to do.

She really loved playing in these plastic bins.

 But they are a little small for doots.

So, we got her a pool and some water toys.

She loves playing in the water. The pets love the giant water dish.

Her favorite things to do are splash, kick, drink the water, and crawl around on her belly.

I am certain she is going to love going to the beach. Perhaps we will make that happen next weekend.

Cousins are the best.

Last weekend we went to Madison to see both sets of grandparents,  as well as some aunts, uncles, and cousins. We spent time with JT's sister, my sister and brother-in-law, and two of our three nephews.

We had a super fun weekend, but my camera did not end up making the trip. However, I did take pictures of the boys and Audrey when they were here for Easter. So, I will be using Easter pictures in this post. You do the best you can with what you have.

Audrey loves getting to see her grandparents and aunts and uncles. That goes without saying. But the moments that melt my heart are with her cousins. I love those little boys, and the love and warmth they have for Audrey is just amazing. With that in mind I will focus on cousin time today.

Last weekend the cousins did all sorts of hanging out. They didn't actually watch TV because Audrey watched a million hours of Elmo in the car, but they did cuddle like cuties.

JT, Jen, and I took the boys and Audrey to the zoo. It was super fun. We watched animals, Seth helped Audrey go down the big slide, Luke helped her pet the goats, Seth and Luke climbed to the top of the rocks, and everyone got a treat. The boys were happy even though we had to leave without seeing everything. Baby girl was done.

The kids played outside all weekend. Audrey chased them around the whole weekend. It was the sweetest. They played boom ball with JT and she ran around like she was playing too. When she wasn't running around she sat on the step and cheered with her whole heart. Love.

My favorite moment may have been when they were all playing in the sprinkler. Audrey was a bit cautious, but kept getting closer and closer. Seth (I think it was Seth but it just as easily could have been Luke) turned it way down so she was more comfortable, and then when she was standing over it turned it up so it got her all over! It was really funny, and she ran away (mostly) giggling.

She loves watching the big boys play and trying to keep up with them. And those boys love her. Luke dotes on her like no other and Seth is an absolute natural with little kids. JT commented on the way home that she did not test limits all weekend because she was too busy trying to keep up with the boys. It was fun and refreshing for everyone. I'm not sure she had a tantrum all weekend. Bliss.

That baby girl loves her cousins and they love her. I can't wait to have ALL of the cousins together in July!!